Coming Together

Well, things are starting to come together. I have a reservation on Air India for July 7th. It's a 3-month return, with the return date tentatively set for August 31st, although it can be pushed back as late as October 6th for free. I debated getting a one-way ticket, but it was only 10,000 yen ($100) for the option of flying back to Japan, so it seemed like a good insurance policy.

I'm about to fill out the Indian visa application. It's a bureaucratic minefield, good warm-up for India itself. What is it about former British colonies and their addiction to red tape? Reminds me of trying to buy a ticket back from the Andaman Islands 3 years ago. Or of the 4-hour lineup in the garden of the Indian Embassy in Kathmandu.

Anyway, the prospect of parting with cash I haven't been paid yet for a ticket and a visa is making everything come into sharper focus. My to-do list is getting longer, but I'm gamely plugging away at it: bike spares and repairs, MEC outdoor gear, co-ordination with prospective fellow-travellers, maps, trying to firm up an itinerary. Plus trying to sell some articles and my book before I go.

Between the prospect of travel and the fact that I'm playing tennis again at long last, I'm feeling quite alive and excited after a winter that was pretty low-key, perhaps aftershock from the tsunami.